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What bothers me isn't so much that someone is giving these orders, it's that there are boots on the ground who are executing them, understanding fully what they're doing.

Sure, you can break this sort of operation into smallish chunks, for which no-one needs to feel responsible.  "I just set up the tents, it's not up to me what they're being used for".  "I'm just the bus driver.  Who the passengers are or where they're going has nothing to do with me".  But somewhere out there are people who are waking children up in the middle of the night and putting them on buses, knowing full well what's happening, and that's horrifying.

"Morgan Salamandra" sounds vaguely ominous, with just a hint of flame-proofiness.

Anyone want to offer odds on Kavanaugh being confirmed?

Three-to-one in favour of confirmation.  One seldom loses money betting on humanity choosing the worse option.

I was just thinking...How many people that lived in the Matrix would be happy if they got rescued by the heroes?

I mean, they'd be trading in a half-decent 21st century existence for a post-nuclear frozen wasteland.

I bet most of them would be really pissed off.

Well, I'm not happy now, so I don't think a drop in living standards would do much to improve my attitude.

I expect I'd be in shock for a bit, which would be followed by a period of fascination (I mean, wasteland or not, it's still a completely new world to learn about).

However, once I'd adapted to the situation, the persons responsible for "rescuing" me might be well advised to watch their backs (assuming that, like Neo, I didn't have the situation explained to me in advance).

In our hearts,
we all already knew puns were a sign of brain damage

Brain damage?
Quelle dommage!

An incorrigible punster on a Discord channel I frequent, flounced abruptly and inexplicably during what I thought was a relatively minor disagreement.  It's the second or third time he's done that; he doesn't strike me as very robust, psychologically speaking.  I don't think he fits the Witzelsucht pattern, but it is interesting that excessive punning might be linked to other mental problems.

I'd been waiting for an outburst on twitter regarding the "unbreakable" Manafort's plea deal, and was disappointed that I could only find some vague bluster about the rigged witch hunt.  I was looking forward to an exhibition of cognitive dissonance.

he just delivered a 5-min long explanation that everybody was actually laughing with him

That'll do.   

Kevin:  "You're having me on."

Me:  "Google it.  On your phone.  Right now."

Okay.


A fatberg is a congealed lump in a sewer system formed by the combination of non-biodegradable solid matter
...
The resulting lumps of congealed material can be as strong as concrete, and require specialist equipment to remove.

Handled incorrectly, even small amounts of fatberg can kill.
...
The fatberg samples can only be moved by trained personnel wearing full protective clothing.
...
Fatbergs are a material that's not well understood, chemically or biologically. We've had flies hatch out of the fatberg, and mould growth while it was drying out

Billy is right.  That is awesome.

But, I don't care. I will never be pushing the boundaries of science, so it doesn't really matter what I think either way. That fact, plus the fact that I'm, like, colossally tired of living in a boring, mechanistic universe, means I can believe what I want and you can't stop me.

The universe I live in is mechanistic, but there are billions of unknown variables and unexpected interactions and undomesticated marketing weasels, so that even though I believe there are Inviolable Rules*, it's still almost impossible to figure out what's going to happen next.

It's not boring, it's terrifying.

So I choose to live in a universe where science has proven dogs are psychic. There, I said it.

I once thought I had a telepathic link with my intestinal bacteria, but it turned out it was just gas.


*If there weren't Rules, it would be much harder to do physics.

All I get is a quote on a white screen, with nothing else.

You have to click on the quote.  And then click on the eye.  Then click on unlabelled images.  Hence my "mystery meat" criticism.

Oh.  That sounds like work.

Why do you think I'm asking for free samples?  I need to recoup my losses.

All I get is a quote on a white screen, with nothing else.

You have to click on the quote.  And then click on the eye.  Then click on unlabelled images.  Hence my "mystery meat" criticism.

Okay, but if you don't give out free samples, you might find yourself having difficulty being granted a nihil obstat.

If you know what I mean.

Mystery meat wobsite design is very 1998.  Get with the times, man.  You aren't going to sell many pamphlets that way.

Also, I think your site a coupl typos.  If I point them out, can I have free samples?

You will notice that nowhere in that description does the word "Mexico" occur.

Do you know what you're doing to my spare time?

When you necrobump a thread, I start reading it.  If it's interesting, I can end up reading the whole thing.  Then that thread links to another, and another, and the next thing I know, I'm reading about an orange eating contest and wondering what the hell kind of forum I've signed up for.

That "no grapefruit" rule is totally bogus.

What happened to all the responses on this thread?

It was double-posted.  Here's the real one:  https://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,38470.0.html